True: “Some people pursue Ph.D.s to work in academia or to attain lofty research positions. The CEO of Rivian got his so people would take him seriously.” (Rivian’s CEO explains why he got a Ph.D. — and why he chose MIT over Stanford)
20 years into my career, I was presenting some data that disagreed with the assertions made by someone else on the team. The manager stopped me and said, “Lawrence has a Stanford MBA and you don’t, so why should I believe you?“
He was using the appeal to authority argument. History would show that Lawrence was wrong and I was right – and the project was eventually scrapped (I was trying to show an alternative path to success but management was stuck on the erroneous assumptions and assertions made by others).
The comment, “Lawrence has a Stanford MBA and you don’t” hit me hard and that afternoon I decided I would pursue an MBA, and did so, starting 2 years later (had to move to go to grad school). I eventually also earned an M.S. in software engineering.
I always had to fight harder for my input to be considered on projects – as I was one of the few who lacked a grad degree. Managers and other team members (typically from elite grad schools) did not take my input seriously – unless I, and I alone, came prepared with a lot of data and research to back up what I had to say.
Not having a grad degree in these environments was poison to my career.
I am in agreement with CEO RJ Scaringe’s reasons for completing a Ph.D.
I wish I had earned a grad degree earlier in life. There were multiple reasons I did not including that I had to pay all of my own college expenses, and that I was the victim of a major ETS GRE scoring error. I am going to have a separate post on that ETS GRE screw up. It was a huge mistake on their part that screwed a lot of students who then made decisions on going or not going to grad school based on false information from ETS.
